CHRISPY'S OLYMPICS COVERAGE, PART TWO
Doesn't it suck when the stars don't shine?
Michelle Kwan is out of the Olympics, victim of a groin injury.
NBC is so desperate to keep her involved that they ran a "Tribute to Michelle Kwan" last night and offered her a job as an analyst. (She turned the offer down.)
A Tribute? She's one of the most decorated figure skaters ever, sure, but she's never won the gold. Why should she get a tribute during the Olympics? It's not like she died. She has a groin injury, arguably the funniest of all injuries.
And that Apolo Ohno. His face is leering at me from phonebooths up and down 5th Ave, but he nearly fell on his butt trying a risky pass in the 1500m short track. The pass was ill advised, but so is his soul patch.
I love how casual speed skaters look. They move in almost perfect synchronization, arms clasped behind their backs, like a line of ducklings. Really fast ducklings, in spandex.
3 Comments:
I'm not sure I understand your aversion to the Olympics. The level of dedication and training is higher than anything most of us will ever understand.
What's wrong with a tribute to Michelle Kwan? It's not like this is a beauty pageant. She worked hard and this was her last shot at an Olympic gold. Pulling out because of injury must be a very difficult thing to do when you have worked so hard.
I think you need to lighten up on the Olympics a little.
Sucks to the Olympics!
I'm kidding. I don't really have an aversion to the Olympics.
I just don't like how commercialized it is. There's too much emphasis on stars and advertising and not enough on the very things that make the Olympics so great - the dedication and training you're talking about.
It must be hard for Kwan. Of course, she's an incredibly successful skater, and even without Olympic gold she'll go down as one of the greats. It just seemed so melodramatic for NBC to run a "tribute" a few hours after she pulled out. It was like they said "Shit, now that the big draw is out we better suck up as much interest as we can." What about all the other athletes? What about her alternate (who wasn't even flown to the Olympics until Kwan pulled out)?
What about all of the athletes who aren't as rich or famous or marketable as Kwan? The ones who work equally hard, train for as many years, and are largely ignored? The real amateur athletes, who the Olympics are really about?
Those athletes do toil in relative obscurity, but I can't blame that on NBC. Figure skating is a popular sport, so they show a lot of it. Biathalon? Not so much, except in Oslo, I guess.
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